Under environments in which a plurality of data processing apparatuses are connected so as to form a network, in the case when data, processed in the respective processing apparatuses, are to be printed out, in order to carry out an efficient output process, the printing apparatus carries out a job management by adding management information to the image data and temporarily storing it in a storing device such as a hard disk, and determines an order of output processes for the printed information stored in a storage device based upon a predetermined order of preference.
With respect to the method for determining the order of preference, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4241/1994 (Tokukaihei 6-4241, published on Jan. 14, 1994) discloses a method in which the order of jobs to be printed out is determined based upon the amount of image data, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 258365/1996 (Tokukaihei 8-258365, published on Oct. 8, 1996) discloses a method for estimating time required for outputting image data based upon the amount and the kinds of image data.
Moreover, color printers, which print out color images, have been put into market as apparatuses for recording and reproducing images, and have made remarkable progresses in the printer market as well.
In such circumstances, in the case of color printers and color composite machines provided with, for example, an electrophotographing process, the characteristics of toner to be transferred on the transferring member or the quantities of toner to be transferred are respectively different between the case in which monochrome images are recorded and reproduced and the case in which color images are recorded and reproduced. For this reason, upon recording and reproducing monochrome images or color images, it is necessary to manage various statuses inside the apparatus, such as process conditions for recording and reproducing images and fixing conditions at the time of fixing on a copying material, in order to bring the apparatus to a recordable and reproducible state for each of the cases.
Normally, in color printers and color composite machines, the fixing temperature is set higher than the normal fixing temperature for monochrome images in order to ensure fixing of color images and to improve the fixing property and the color developing property. However, in conventional apparatuses, the apparatus is in a stand-by state without processing any image data sent from an external apparatus until, after application of power, the warming up has been complete to bring the apparatus to a recordable and reproducible state for all images. The resulting problem is that no print output is available until all the statuses inside the apparatus have brought into recordable states in such a case as immediately after power application in the morning.
Moreover, recently, in printers and digital composite machines, a recording device of a type for recording and reproducing images by scanning with a laser modulated based on data has been mainly used. In the case of the recording device of this type, by switching the number of revolutions of a polygon mirror for deflecting the laser beam, the resolution of an image to be reproduced can be altered and the reproducibility of an image and the recording process performance can be altered by switching the recording speed.
However, it cannot be said that those apparatuses that simply make a switchover on the recording device side in accordance with the features of an image (resolution, whether it is a color image or a monochrome image, whether or not it is a high picture-quality mode) have advanced greatly, and have the same problems as the above-mentioned apparatus that switches the temperature of the fixing device in accordance with the features of an image prior to the output process.